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This year we opted for a private guide and arrived in Ouray a week before the Ice Festival. Kind of nice how quiet it was. Starting our hike in. Our climbing area. My friend Shannon always kills it. My friend Natalie is an incredibly fast climber. Here is me totally stressed that I can hardly keep up with her pace belaying her. The climb out, always feel steep. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Tomorrow morning is going to be great. See you there.

Holy cow, another trip to the Skiers Paradise! A place with endless groomers and highest number of sunny days in Alps. A rough start with crazy outbound weather with snow peaking right around the departure time. When it hit, it hit hard, and I even started looking at rail options, but then miraculously the snow took a break, and I zipped to EWR in no time at all. Stupid United flight this time. Far from the luxury of Emirates, longer en route, but timely departure and free booze in the United Club. The only thing left before departure is deicing. Whoo-hoo, looking at the webcams and forecast, it's gonna be truly epic. Lots of sunny days has its unfortunate side effect on snow quality or even availability, plus this time I'm flying earlier than ideal, but the storm that drowned Venice in December dumped enough in the mountains to last till now.

Lol, I think I mixed up my flight somehow...

Put skis on the de Havilland for some flights from the snow.....

It will be good tomorrow Am.

I might come into work late tomorrow and hit up Blue tomorrow AM I agree conditions are gonna be grate.

Can't wait to see what's in store for today! 🤣

Hillcrest lodge (stupid name - it’s at the bottom of a hill) is on the K access rd and it’s cheap too. Problem is it’s cheap so if hanky panky going on down the hall you hear it. My go-to, especially for solo travel is Turn of River Lodge (more on this later). Not on k access rd but 1 m from sky ship Gondi on Rt 4. Not my fav starting point as it takes 20 min to ski after loading though. My pro tip is park at corner of lot trail access next to snowdon bubble chair. Super short and easy access and car is right there for lunch and tinnies. Other convenient start is bear but car is a bit farther away. If staying at ToR two great breakfast spots, First is about 0.2m down Rt 4 toward k access rd on your right. Dream makers bakery. A little $$ for breakfast Sammy (~$8) but crazy good farm-to-table Vt goodness. Problem is their midweek hrs are no good. The second option is Water wheel trading post. Mom/pop operation and will have half dozen local pick up trucks parked in front scoring breakfast. Cheap homemade breakfast sammy’s and is about 0.8m on left Rt 4 heading toward k access rd from ToR. Last suggestion is sun up bakery on k access rd on right just before hitting rams head area. ToR is a throwback. Got a huge common area with huge fireplace, tv (folks play jeopardy every night - I suck at it but blame it on the boxed wine) and access to full kitchen so that’s where I ate dinner almost every night. Lot of regulars there (ski instructors, mountain ambassadors patrollers) but always welcoming. Last trip I went with 2 other guys who never been there and they loved it. Bunks downstairs is $40/night (separate woman’s and men’s dorms). Private rooms available upstairs with shared or private baths. Another ski option to consider is Pico if they got most of their terrain open. Cheaper than K and worth a day if you’re in the mood. Good luck